"The secretary is not shy talking about how much he loves his job as steward of the country's public lands. He often says the Department of Interior is really the Department of America.

"'As I think about my role as secretary of the Interior, it is perhaps the most wonderful job of any cabinet position in the United States,' Salazar said in December. 'I would not trade it for attorney general or Housing and Urban Development or Transportation because I would find those jobs a little boring.'

"But the pull of family obligations -- he and his wife are primary caretakers of their 5-year-old granddaughter who has autism and is enrolled in a special school -- was too great to commit to four more years, Salazar's office said."